Hooray, finally an episode in which Satori-chan gets to shine. And shine she does…mmmMmm tasty! =3

OK, so maybe it’s not quite Haruhi caliber costume raping, but Kirino and Saya’s genki/aggressive tactics (it’s like passive/aggressive but a lot happier) in trying to recruit Satori to the kendo club are definitely nothing less than epic.

I couldn’t help but laugh every time the two of them would randomly ambush poor Satori and kidnap her off to the dojo.

I mean, how can you resist when they’re just so happy to see you?

As an aside, with these Bamboo Blade posts I just can’t seem to resist the urge to put like a million screencaps in them. I guess that’s just a testament to the awesomeness of the visual humor this show excels in.

My only regret is that we didn’t get to see the two of them forcefully undressing Satori and stuffing her into a kendo gi while she yelled, “Iyaaa~! At least let me change myself!”

………

*ahem*

Sorry, I went someplace far away for a moment there. I’m back now.

Boin!

Kirino, Sayako, Tamaki. and Miya-Miya are a tough cast to compete with, but Satori has really been growing on me *ahem* lately.

“Mottainai Obake! Mottainai Obake!!”

I laughed my butt off at Saya’s “Mottainai Obake” impression.

“Mottainai” is a Japanese expression that translates to something like “What a waste!” It kind of epitomizes the conservationist attitude of Japan. “Mottainai” inspired the Japanese style toilet, which often has a small sink on top of the tank that allows you to wash your hands with the water that will go into the reservoir for the next flush, thus helping to converse.

“Obake” means ghost, thus the Mottainai Obake is the “ghost that will haunt you if you waste (whatever)”. I used to occasionally see Japanese moms telling their kids to finish their food or else the Mottainai Obake would haunt them at night. Kind of creepy, if you think about it. My parents always just told me that I would grow up to be scrawny and weak.

Like all good meganekko, she has to take off the glasses and let down the hair before she starts kicking ass. I guess in some ways she’s like a reverse Claes from Gunslinger Girl – she hates books and sucks at school.

Tea drinking peanut gallery for no reason – yet another great example of how random background elements just add onto the already great humor of the show.

Speaking as someone who’s done a fair amount of kendo, that was a dang good hit. My reaction was pretty much the same as all the other characters. Successfully executing a fast and precise taiatari hiki-men like that is not an easy thing to do, especially against a skilled opponent.

As a quick explanation, “taiatari” literally means “body clash” (tai – body, ataru – to clash), and refers to the situation where both competitors collide into one another, usually after attempting to execute a strike. “Hikiwaza” (hiku – to pull away, waza – technique) simply means a retreating technique, which could be a “hiki-men” (strike to the head), “hiki-do” (strike to the torso), etc.

Successfully delivering a “hiki” strike when coming out of taiatari is a fun way to win a match and looks dang cool, but it takes a fair amount of finesse.

Anyway, all that to say, I’m very impressed with Satori, and very impressed with Bamboo Blade for keeping the kendo fairly realistic, unlike many over-the-top sports series.

As an aside, if anyone is interested in having me post more on kendo related stuff, please let me know.

Blushing and flustered Satori are both fine too.

Speaking of which, it seems like Satori-chan and Yuuji might have a bit of interest in each other. I wonder whether the series will develop this angle at all in the coming episodes. As fun as Miya-Miya and Dan-kun are, I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more romance to help round out the comedy and action.

It would definitely be awesome. =3

But not nearly as awesome as the power slap Reimi delivered to Yuuji upon discovering that he wasn’t Miya-Miya’s boyfriend. I mean just look at those screenshots; she’s really putting the full upper body rotation into it, as though she was winding up for a forehand tennis smash.

Poor Yuuji; I would feel sorry for him if it wasn’t so damn funny. >_>

I’ll forgive her though, because she has an awesome camera and a photography passion that rivals Mr. Izumi Soujirou himself.

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I haven’t blogged about Bamboo Blade much since I first reviewed it in our fall rankings post, but that doesn’t mean it’s fallen off my radar.

Without a doubt, Bamboo Blade is still one of the best shows of the season. Along with Minami-ke, it’s one of those rare comedies that manages to stay consistently funny while also keeping the jokes and the story fresh. And unlike many pure comedies, Bamboo Blade has it’s share of awesome action moments to mix things up a bit.

Without a doubt, however, the main selling point of the series is in the characters themselves. Without Kirino’s nekoguchi :3, Tama-chan’s O_O, and Miya-Miya’s yandere the show wouldn’t be half as funny as it is. And half the time when I start laughing, it’s not because of some tsukkomi punchline or obscure otaku joke, it’s just because Tamaki made another funny face.

Visual comedy has always been a very mixed bag, but this year seems to have given us a great selection of series that excel in it. In addition to Bamboo Blade, Potemayo and Lucky Star come readily to mind.

Speaking of visuals, Saya-chan is great, too.

As is Miya-Miya. I still can’t decide whether I like her better in Pink mode or Black.

And of course Tama-chan is hilarious regardless of what she’s doing.

This time around even Yuuji got his moment to shine.

With those kinds of intimidation tactics, he might just have a promising career ahead of him as a yakuza debt collecter.

Take note, I’ve just discovered an 11th item to add to my plushies list.

OK seriously, this little froggy dude has got to be the best random critter cameo I’ve seen in ages. His reaction to Tama-chan nearly running him down full speed was pretty hilarious, too.

Even Dan-kun got a good laugh from me with his sudden gunslinger action.

Once again, this show never fails when it comes to bringing humor from unexpected sources. In fact, I think that’s one of the greatest strengths of the series – I almost never know what’s coming next, so everything seems fresh and interesting.

I just cannot get enough of Kirino. Also a worried Miya-Miya in the background is fine too.

I’m also excited about seeing Satori, the fifth and final member of the kendo club, get some serious screen time in the near future. The one thing this show has been lacking is a good meganekko, especially one that can kick some serious butt.

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